How to Back up Your Skype Chat History on Windows 10

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Skype takes a backup of your chats and stores it in a database or .db file on your computer. The database file is updated every 30 days. If you expect to go back to chats more than a month old, it is a good practice to copy the file and store it in another location every month. The Skype desktop app saves the backup file in %appdata%\skype\<Skype Name>main.db. Now that many of the Windows 10 computers have discontinued Skype desktop, the database is in a slightly different location. 

1) In the Search box on the Toolbar type Run

(Image credit: Microsoft)

2) Click Run in the search options.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

3) Type or paste the following in the run dialogue box: %localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.SkypeApp_kzf8qxf38zg5c\LocalState.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

4) Click OK to open the location. Note: You can also browse to the folder path in File Explorer. 

(Image credit: Microsoft)

5) In the File Explorer window, open the folder with your Skype username

(Image credit: Microsoft)

6) Select the file main.db.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

7) In the toolbar on top click Copy to.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

8) Select a location to take a backup of the file. 

(Image credit: Microsoft)